Saturday, 20 December 2014

GIVING LOVE, GETTING LOVE, GIVING TO GET

Love. We need it from the moment we are born
to thrive. We might survive but we do not thrive without abundant love. No
wonder we work so hard to get it. No wonder we try to be perfect and do
everything right to have control over getting love. No wonder we get anxious,
angry or depressed when we do not get the love we need. No wonder we use
numerous substance and process addictions to numb the pain when we feel alone
and unloved: True or False?

When we were little, our parents or other
caregivers needed to be our source of love. We were too young to access the
love we needed by ourselves. Our parents were like God they were our source of
life and love.

As we grew older, we were supposed to shift our
focus from getting love from our parents to receiving the love that is God.
Yet, because most of our parents didn’t know how to do this for themselves,
many of us never learned to access the love that is infinite and always
available to us.

As adults most people are stuck in trying to
get love and avoid pain.

Do you try to get love by giving yourself up
to others, hoping they will give you the love you need? Are you giving to get?

Do you try to get others to love you through
intimidation and guilt? Do you get angry, manipulative, or blaming to try to
get others to give themselves up and give you what you want?

Do you shut down and numb out with food,
alcohol, drugs, TV, gambling, sex, work, and so on, to avoid the pain of
loneliness and aloneness? Do you use addictions to avoid the pain of not
feeling loved?

Are you trying to make people, substances,
things or activities your source of love?

There is only one true Source of love. The
Source of love is the universe we live in. The Source of love is whatever is
your concept of God/Spirit. God is Love, and that love is always around us and
within us, but you will feel it only when your heart is open to learning about
loving yourself.

As long as you are trying to get love from
others and avoid pain with your addictions, your heart is closed and you cannot
feel the love that is always here for you. Only when you shift your attention
from getting love and avoiding pain, to loving yourself and sharing your love
with others, will you stop feeling so empty, alone and lonely. Only when you
stop making people, things, activities and substances your source and turn to
Spirit as your Source will you feel the fullness of love within.

The key to this shift is to stop making others
and addictions responsible for your feelings and decide to take full, 100%
responsibility for your own feelings of joy and wellbeing. When your intent
shifts to learning about taking loving action for yourself, you will learn how
to fill yourself with love from your Source and share that love with others.

Sharing love is totally different from giving
to get love. Sharing love comes from a full place within, a place that does not
need anything back from another person. When we learn to take loving action in
our own behalf, we get so filled with love that it just overflows. When this is
the case, we receive great joy in sharing our love. We no longer try to be the
source of love for others, nor do we make others our source of love.

Today, focus on opening to learning about what
is in your highest good. Ask the question throughout the day: What is in my highest good right now? As
answers pop into your mind, take the loving action on your own behalf. Then
notice how peaceful and fulfilled you’ll feel, and how good it feels to share
your love and joy with others.